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Definition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in US English:

nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

noun

Physiology

A type of protein ion-channel in post-synaptic membranes which opens when acetylcholine binds to it, this binding being blocked by nicotine (acetylcholine receptors were originally differentiated on the basis of their response to nicotine and muscarine).

Origin

1970s; earliest use found in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.